Font of type.



W. NICHOLAS.

FONT OF TYPE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7. 1914.

- 1 ,23? 84, Patented Aug. 21, 191?.

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WILLIAM NIGHOLAS, 0F SOUT I-IPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO PREMIER MACHINE COMPANY, CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

FONT OF TYPE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

Application filed. July 7, 1914. serial'N'o. 8495524.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, VILLIAM NICHOLAS, a subject of the'King of Great Britain,=residing at the town of Southport, county-of Fa'irfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fonts of- Type, fully described and represented in the following specification and*. the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same. I p

My invention relates to printers type and has for an object to provide fonts. of type wherein the kerned portions will overhang and be supported by the body portion of the contiguous type.

More specifically stated my invention relates to an improved form of construction of type kerns, and is especially adaptable to characters formed on type casting and composing machines. In the usual foundry made types of this class the kerns are supported by means of an enlargement of the body of the type below the character portion which necessitates a second handling in their manufacture to complete the process of production thereof. This is obviously impossible in casting and immediately composing the type into lines of composition under the.

conditions of the operation of such machines.

To overcome the obstacles to the use of such kerned type in machine composition a, font of type has been designed which forms the subject matter of the U. S. Patent No. 696,784 to G. A. Goodson, its kern portions'having as their support under cut right angle extensions which although not extending so far down the body portion of the type as in the construction of the socalled founders type, -it nevertheless requires the body of the type immediately adjacent thereto to be cut away correspondingly to an appreciable extent to allow clearance for the kern supporting bracket.

While the Goodson form of kern construc tion permits of the font to which it pertains being cast and composed upon a type-setting machine, it presents practical difficulties which it is one of the purposes of my invention to eliminate. That is to say, in the Goodson type, for example, the kern and its supporting portions of the type body are cast within the constantly shifting matrix plate, while the remainder of the body por-' membersbeing thus held in operable positionsby different means, the mold' walls being rigidly attached to the frameof the ma chine, it will. be apparent that no matter how carefully the matrix may. be entered over the type mold, in the process of composition, objectionable breaks will necessarilyv occur in lineamentskofi the character upon which the kern is cast, when the-iportionof the type body underlyingithe kern is thus molded with the-kern in the matrix, the remainder" of the body being-cast. in the mold which is firmly and rigidly anchored to the frame of the-machine: This variation in the surface of the type body, it is obvious, may be aggravated-byreason .ofthe corresponding recess of the adjacent type, which is also cast in the movable matrix block and may therefore fail in being registered upon the body in the same manner, and which, as often occurs, may be offset'oppositely to a like irregularity in such contiguous adjacent A further object of my invention is to provide a kerned type which does not require other type to be especially formed to cooperate therewith, in designing the depth of the kern to that of the character only, the body portion being of a form to rest upon the shoulder of the adjoining type when cast in the usual manner, which is especially applicable to the casting of script characters upon casting machines.

Having reference to the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a line of type havlng script faces; Fig. 2 is a view of the same type in front elevation; Fig. 3 is a view slmilar to Fig. 2, showing one type separated from another, and Fig. 4 is a plan of single type, having a form of my improved kern.

Having reference to the drawings, 1 represents an ordinary founders type having the usual body portion 2 upon the top of which is the raised character portion 3.

In casting certain characters the raised portion 3 is extended laterally beyond the limits of the supporting body 2 thereby forming a kern 5 which is usually supported by an enlargement and reinforcement of the underlying portion of the type. To allow for this built out portion, sufficient metal is removed from the abutting surface of the type bodies which in the process of composing the types into lines are contiguous to such extended portion of the kerned type. In my present invention, however, I discard all 'under support of the kern of the type, constructing such over hanging position as a specially formed .kern 5 having a plane under surface 6 parallel to that of the face of the character, at the even height of the shoulder4 of the type.

The shoulders 4B of all the type of my improved font have been constructed, as is usual in'type design, to form a lever surface likewise parallel to the face of the type and consequently the under surfaces 6 of the kerns will rest, evenly upon the shoulder of the adjacent typewvhich will constitute a perfect support therefor when the pressure Copies of this patent may. be obtained for five cents each, by

transferred to the galley in the form of composed lines. In such case no modification of the molds is required'for the reason that the kernedcharacters are cast in the matrix plate entirely, which can be carried laterally into the galley upon the plate being raised therefrom.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: a Y

A font of type having horizontally disposed shoulders atthe topof the body por- -tion thereof; kerns having an under surface horizontally disposed at the depth of the character portion adapted to rest upon the shoulder of the contiguous type as a seating surface for said kern when the type, are

formed into lines of composition. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. 1 I WILLIAM NICHOLAS.

Witnesses:

EDITH ENNISSON,

JAMES ENNIssoN.

addressing the Commissioner of Patents, I Washington, D. C. 

